In a variety of contexts, it is difficult for a layperson or other user to obtain actionable information regarding needed products or services because of various barriers between the user's indication of what the user needs and existing data concerning available products or services. The case of a layperson or other user desiring information regarding medical services is illustrative. Many sources of information are available to identify medical facilities and service providers based on specialty. Such sources of information include telephone books and web-based resources. Unfortunately, while a layperson or other user typically knows what symptoms are being presented or, in some cases, what type of medical consultation is desired (e.g., a check-up or a colonoscopy), in many cases the user will not necessarily know what specialty is needed. That is, a layperson with particular symptoms may not be able to determine that those symptoms indicate a particular condition requiring the service of a particular type of specialist, for instance, a gastroenterologist.
Even if the user could somehow identify the correct specialty to address the user's need, a number of obstacles may remain. For example, the user may be faced with the complication of identifying an “in network” service provider for his health plan, and/or identifying an appropriate service provider or facility close to the user's location (which may be particularly problematic when the user is traveling or is otherwise unfamiliar with the area). In view of all of these obstacles, the user may have difficulty in timely obtaining actionable information regarding medical services, e.g., what facility/type of specialist is needed, which appropriate specialists are in-network, which of those in-network specialists are nearby, where are the medical providers and what are the directions to get there, what other information is available to describe the user's condition, is the specialist/provider available and what are the wait times or other latency periods, is there anything the user needs to know or do until professional treatment is available, etc. It will be appreciated that the inability to timely obtain such information can be annoying in the best of circumstances but hazardous in some cases.
The ability to quickly and easily obtain information regarding medical care services would benefit not only lay people but also skilled service providers such as physicians, nurses and EMTs. For example, an EMT professional (and those under the EMT's care) may benefit from access to substantially real-time information identifying nearby facilities/physicians available to treat patients as well as wait times, traffic delays, preferred driving directions, etc. Nurses and physicians may be happy to have assistance in confirming diagnoses and identifying appropriate specialists for referrals. While various diagnostic tools and service resources are available, the existing tools and resources often do not effectively provide the needed specific information based on the types of user inputs that are available as a practical matter.